14 DAY TRIAL // Blizzard has discussed in depth the issue of Legendary items in Diablo 3, which are extremely hard to find, yet ultimately less powerful than the more conventional Magic or Rare items, saying that an enhancement (“buff”) will arrive with a future patch.
Diablo 3 was released two weeks ago and, since then, players have complained of a variety of things, from shoddy servers to dodgy security systems, but also of the ultra-rare Legendary items, which are worse than more common Magic or Rare ones.
While Blizzard has already said that Legendary items aren’t supposed to be the most powerful things in the game, the studio has now posted a new statement, trying to offer further insight into the role of these items.
“One of the biggest pieces of feedback we’ve received regarding items is the relative power of Legendaries. This isn’t a simple issue to address, as it involves some intentional design decisions as well as expectations built by other games,” the studio said.
“First and foremost, Legendary items are not designed to necessarily be the best items in the game. They’re just one additional type of item as you level up, and they are not meant to be the primary items you’re chasing at the end-game,” it continued.
“They can - and should - be exciting to find, but they’re not supposed to serve as the single driving force of the item hunt. Rare items, for example, have the possibility to roll up “perfect” stats that can, if you’re lucky, outpace the predetermined stats of a Legendary. That’s by design.”
In order to clear things up, Blizzard will allow players to freely compare items of any nature in patch 1.0.3 by exposing their item levels (ilvl stats).
“One problem we’ve seen - and intend to correct quickly - is players comparing high-level Magic (blue) items to lower-level Legendary items as “proof” of an imbalance. To help correct misconceptions of the actual stat budgets allocated to items, we’ll be exposing item levels (ilvl) of 60+ items in patch 1.0.3. Comparing an ilvl 63 blue to an ilvl 60 Legendary will hopefully make a bit more sense afterward.”
What’s more, probably when update 1.1 arrives with its long-awaited Player-versus-Player mode, Blizzard will also buff Legendary items, but only those who are found by players after the patch is released.
“In addition, we’re planning to just straight-out buff Legendary items in a future patch, likely the PvP patch (1.1). These buffs will not be retroactive, and so they’ll only apply to new Legendary items found after the patch. In the long term, we’re looking at simply expanding the affix diversity and unique bonuses of Legendary items, and we’ll be able to share more details after the PvP patch.”
The latest patch for Diablo 3 has taken it to version 1.0.2, which came out earlier today.